The money-order system, which in England is so popular, has partly failed here. It went into operation on the 1st of November, 1864, under circumstances which promised a decided success. The amount to which the law limited the order-system was not less than one dollar, and not more than thirty dollars. This was to accommodate a certain class of people, and at the same time test the utility of the system for the purpose of hereafter creating a more extensive operation of the principle and also increasing the amount of money sent.
That it is an important step in postal progress its operation in Europe is sufficient proof; but here we started wrong. What should have been a plain, simple transaction between the parties—the paying money and receiving an order—has become perfectly mystified by the ambiguity of the language of the law, as well as the numerous technicalities thrown around it. A poor woman applies to the window for a postal order on New York for ten dollars: she expects the order made payable to herself or to the party to whom she sends it, which on presentation would be immediately paid. It will be observed, upon reading the “General Principles of the Money-Order System” and the “Instructions to Postmasters at Money-Order Offices,” that if this poor woman was requested to read the “laws and regulations” it would be to her “all Greek.” Were the amounts named thousands of dollars instead of pennies, those interested would be of a class whose education and business knowledge would enable them to comprehend it: as it is, we know several instances of poor persons resorting to the old custom of forwarding their money rather than undergo the ordeal of a clerk’s explanation of the law.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM.
I. Money-order offices are divided into two classes. Offices of the first class are depositories, in which those of the second class deposit their surplus money-order funds.
II. Any office in either class may draw upon any other office in the list of money-order offices for a sum, upon one order, from one dollar to thirty dollars. But when a larger sum than the latter is required, additional orders to make it up must be obtained.
III. When money-orders exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars in aggregate amount are issued in one day, and to the same person, by one or more offices, upon a second-class office, the postmaster at the office so drawn upon will be permitted to delay the payment of such orders for five days.
IV. The money-orders shall be made out upon printed forms supplied by the post-office department, and no order will be valid or payable unless given upon one of such forms.
V. Any person applying for a money-order will be required to state the particulars upon a form of application which will be furnished to him for that purpose by the postmaster.
VI. If the purchaser of a money-order, from having made an error in stating the name of the office of payment, or for other reasons, desires to have the said money-order changed, the issuing postmaster will take back the first order and issue another in lieu thereof, for which an additional fee shall be charged and exacted as for a new transaction. The order so taken back must be cancelled by the postmaster and entered in his books and returns, in its proper numerical order, as “cancelled.”
VII. Parties procuring money-orders should examine them carefully, to see that they are properly filled up and stamped. This caution will appear the more necessary when it is understood that any defect in this respect will throw difficulties in the way of payment.